Unintended Cultivator
Book 11: Chapter 35: Hero of the Land

“Well, that’s obviously a trap,” said Jing.

Sen managed to repress his urge to sigh and said, “Yes. I know it’s a trap. The problem is that I don’t understand the trap. I can’t plan around things I don’t understand. I don’t see any way that Kang can benefit from this.”

“Ah,” said Jing, leaning back in the throne that Sen had all but commanded him to sit in.

“I sincerely hope you have something more substantial to offer about all of this,” said Sen, who had sprawled in a chair summoned from a storage ring.

The throne room had been cleared, and Sen had thrown up air qi barriers around the room to maintain some privacy.

“I do. I just need to figure out how to explain it in a way that tells you what you need to know without overloading you with things you don’t. Or, at the very least, things you don’t need to worry about right now.”

“Oh. Well, in that case, take all the time you need.”

“How kind,” said Jing, rolling his eyes. “This is one of the pitfalls of assuming power the way you have. It wouldn’t have been so bad if you’d at least come up in a sect for a time.”

“What?” asked Sen in a flat voice.

“Don’t get all surly. I know you don’t like sects very much, and I’m not saying it would have been good for you. I’m just saying that, while it’s not exactly the same, sect politics and court politics share some features. If you’d gotten a taste of sect politics, this would be easier to understand.”

“I’ll take your word for it.”

“Historically, being a general in this country hasn’t just been about performance. Those in the position must, at least publicly, maintain a reputation for excellent character. After all, the kingdom can’t trust the lives of its sons and daughters to unscrupulous leaders.”

It was Sen’s turn to roll his eyes.

“No one can possibly believe that’s how it actually works.”

“You’d be surprised,” said Jing. “No one at court believes it. The upper ranks in the army don’t believe it. Most others do believe it, though. It’s a belief that we all encourage.”

“Why? If you all know it’s not true, why perpetuate the lie?”

“Would you want to follow leaders you didn’t trust into battle?” asked Jing with a raised eyebrow.

Sen felt his shoulders droop a little as idealism and practicality crashed into each other, and practicality won.

“No. Of course, I wouldn’t want to do that.”

“Hence, we praise our generals as men and women of unblemished virtue. Heroes of the land. It makes people willing to follow them, even die for them in times of need. Historically, it’s also been a useful tool for the royal family to dismiss generals from unfriendly factions that grow too popular.”

“Because you don’t want an army led by people who might turn against you,” said Sen, finally seeing the general shape of the trap.

“Precisely. It’s a little cold-blooded, and we’ve lost more than a few good generals that way over the centuries, but it’s better than having them murdered. After all, we might want to call them back into service someday. Despite what some people think, you can’t manufacture a good general by giving them a position.”

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“I can see why you’d want something like that in place, but that’s a weakness your enemies could exploit as well.”

“And they have,” agreed Jing. “It’s not a perfect system, and we’ve all learned the hard way not to be too eager to go down that road. We’ve all learned to tolerate people we might otherwise wish to see removed from those positions as long as they aren’t too extreme in their loyalty to any one person or faction.”

“And Kang?”

“Kang is corrupt. But he’s corrupt in a very specific and predictable way. He’s greedy, which is never a good thing in a general. His corruption ends at greed, though. He isn’t ambitious beyond his station. He decided a long time ago that he’d rather be wealthy. Now that he is wealthy, he’s decided that he’d rather stay wealthy than try to seize the throne or help someone do it. That wealth and his position allow him to keep the noble houses at bay enough that he doesn’t get tangled up in their plots. At least, that’s how things stood before you came along.”

“Do you think his goals have changed?”

“No. I think the situation has changed, and he’s scrambling to find his footing in it. You’ve made it abundantly clear that you do not like him. You’ve made it equally clear that you do like General Mo. A sentiment that General Mo returns, which has turned Mo Kegong into exactly the thing that everyone has been afraid of. He’s a partisan general with the king’s favor. A general who loathes Kang with an intensity that you and I will never share.”

“Why?” asked Sen before he felt the need to explain. “I know that I should ask Mo about it, but this sounds like something I need to know about.”

“You do,” said Jing. “It’s not even a secret. Not really. Mo holds Kang responsible for the death of his oldest son.”

Sen sat up straight in his chair.

“Is he?”

“That’s the problem. No one knows for sure. Officially, it was just an accident. Unofficially, it looked suspicious, but no one could find any evidence. And I assure you, people looked very hard for that evidence. My father, for all his sins, didn’t like Kang either. He’d have been happy to take any excuse that would have held up to modest scrutiny to get rid of the man. Yet, that lack of evidence has prevented General Mo from doing what he truly wants to do.”

“Strangling the life from Kang’s body?” asked Sen.

“Probably something much more violent and painful, but you’ve got the basic idea.”

“So, Kang sees me, a man who dislikes him, getting friendly with Mo, a man who despises him, and he what? Panics?”

“Probably,” said Jing. “If I had to guess, Kang concocted that entire story and prayed that Mo would report it to you. Then, if you investigated, Mo would be discredited and exposed as a liar. You’d have to strip him of his position.”

“Why would Kang ever imagine that I’d do that?”

“He’s probably expecting that the negative reaction from all the soldiers would force your hand. Mo’s status as a hero of the land would be tarnished, after all. If they turn on Mo, it doesn’t matter what anyone says. He’d become a liability because the soldiers might defy his orders.”

“Would they really do that?” asked Sen, unsure if he believed that people were so fickle.

“No one is more hated than a fallen hero. It’s almost impossible to guess just how deeply that kind of disappointment will affect people.”

“Okay. So, Kang gets Mo removed, but wouldn’t that just free Mo to go and murder the man?”

“Personal vengeance is a lot more common in the Jianghu than it is among us mortals,” said Jing. “If I had to guess, and this is just a guess, I imagine that Kang believes that Mo won’t do it. He’s restrained himself for this long.”

Sen considered that for all of two seconds before he shook his head.

“That isn’t what I’d expect Mo to do.”

“That’s because you probably know Mo better than Kang does at this point. I doubt those two have spoken about anything not related to the army in a decade.”

“So, this all comes down to what I do. Kang was probably betting that my dislike for him would make me react without thinking.”

“I expect that’s true,” said Jing. “For all of that power, you just look so damn young. It’s easy to forget that you’re not actually that age. Young men are impetuous men.”

“That false perception might work to my advantage this time. The catch is that I need to find a way to punish Kang without exposing Mo’s role in any of this. I need Mo where he is.”

A predatory grin spread across Jing’s face when he said, “No. You don’t. You can punish him for doing exactly what he did. Trying to discredit a hero of the land and getting caught.”